Not too many years ago, people burned garbage in open containers in their backyards. Pollution laws, however, in recent years have virtually outlawed such practice throughout the nation. As a result, most garbage today is picked up and hauled to central landfills or other disposal sites.
A variety of garbage truck designs are presently known in the garbage collection industry. Such trucks include front loading, back loading and side loading types. The front loading type include mechanism for lifting a container over the cab before dumping it into the box behind the cab. Back loading types usually have a trough at the back of the box for receiving garbage. The garbage is usually manually lifted into the trough or deposited therein with a loader. In any case, the back loading type usually have a wall for moving the garbage out of the trough and compressing it forwardly into the box.
The present invention is directed to side loading garbage trucks. A number of designs are known. For example, one design allows a person to mount a step and deposit a can of garbage in a trough between the cab and box of the truck. A conveying mechanism then moves the garbage from the trough into the box. Another design has a single arm mechanism between the box and the cab which extends to grab a round container and lift it to the top of the box for deposit of the garbage therein. Still another design uses a pair of arms pivoted near the top of the box and located along the side of the truck to grab opposite sides of a container and lift the container straight upwardly and then over the box to deposit garbage therein.
Most relevant to the present invention is a truck and container system wherein the side of the box of the truck powers down and becomes a hopper into which garbage may be dumped. On pivoting the side upwardly, the garbage is moved into the box. Although garbage may be manually lifted and deposited in the side hopper, the truck is usually used in combination with a container which has its own hydraulic lift mechanism for lifting the container from a base, rotating the container and dumping the garbage contents into the side hopper of the truck. Energization for the hydraulic system comes from a make and break connection between the container hydraulic assembly and the hydraulic system of the truck. Although the system is workable, it is expensive. Each container must have its own hydraulic lift assembly. Furthermore, use of the system requires proper positioning of the truck so that when the side is powered down, it is located properly to receive garbage from the container after it is lifted and rotated for dumping. Also, the operator must take the time to connect the hydraulic lift assembly of the container to the hydraulic system of the truck for each container encountered.
The present invention eliminates the need for separate lift assembles for each container by disclosing an appropriate lift assembly for attachment to a side hopper of the truck.